A Ground-Breaking Collaboration in the Great Depression: Elizabeth C. Morriss of North Carolina (1878-1960) & Edna Phillips of Massachusetts (1890-1968) and Their Experimental Reading Study on Adult Beginners (1935)

Abstract

The circumstances of the first meeting of an adult educator, Elizabeth C. Morriss, a widow, from North Carolina in her mid-fifties, with a librarian, Edna Phillips, a single woman, from Massachusetts in her mid-forties, were most promising. Both were active in their respective fields, Morriss in the field of adult elementary education, and Phillips in the field of library adult education.  Despite their years of experience, they were both pursuing degrees in Adult Education from Teachers College, Columbia University in New York City, probably to get credentials that would certify them as recognized leaders in their field.